ROAD AND RAIL

ROAD AND RAIL; 6 Miles for $6 Million

By CLAUDIA ROWE

Published: July 9, 2000

A MERE six miles of new train track means Nick Zaderay can shave 15 minutes from his commute of 3 hours and 15 minutes. It means Chris Silvera can bicycle to the train from his home in northern Dutchess County, and it means the Metro-North Railroad could pick up hundreds of new riders.

That's why Metro-North invested five years and $6 million to build two stations opening today. The Tenmile River and Wassaic stations, both in the town of Amenia in Dutchess County, have extended Metro-North's Harlem Line just under six miles. But it might as well be 50, for all the excitment this has generated. Gov. George E. Pataki is expected at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Wassaic station tomorrow morning, and E. Virgil Conway, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will be on hand as well.

''This is the first time in our history that we've ever expanded,'' Mr. Conway said. ''The whole suburban area is pushing north. Ridership is increasing all the time. I think it's going to continue to increase.''

Indeed. Mr. Zaderay, a financial consultant who lives in Pittsfield, Mass., has no trouble rising every day around 5 a.m. for his trip to the office a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal. He shrugs off a total of six-and-a-half hours of daily commuting as the price of the good life.

''I love the Berkshires, and my business is in New York City,'' he said. ''So I have the best of both worlds.''

Mr. Zaderay will now be able to pare 10 or 15 minutes from his drive to and from the train by boarding at the Wassaic station, 5.6 miles closer to his home. ''Early in the morning, even a few minutes is something,'' he said. He is not an anomaly. Metro-North has seen a dramatic increase in ridership over the last 15 years, and most of it comes from commuters boarding at its northernmost stations. At 6:30 a.m. one recent Thursday, all the parking spaces at the end of the line in Dover Plains were filled with commuters' cars, many bearing Massachusetts or Connecticut license plates. Since 1984, weekday ridership on those trains jumped 463 percent, to a total of 535 people riding south each day.

Peter A. Cannito, Metro-North's president, said ridership was up nearly 5 percent compared with last year, with the greatest increase on the upper Harlem and upper Hudson lines. (He and Mr. Conway both ride Harlem line trains to work, though not from as far away as Mr. Zaderay.)

Business is booming so much that Metro-North has considered building an extension into Pennsylvania Station and rehabilitating an old east-west line, which would run from Beacon in Dutchess County to the Brewster station in Putnam.

The new Wassaic and Tenmile River stations, built on existing rails, which were used from the mid-1800's through 1972, will bring commuters almost six miles north of Dover Plains and provide a total of 300 new parking spaces.

Chris Silvera, a Teamsters' official, may not need one, though. With the Wassaic station only three minutes from his home in Amenia, Mr. Silvera, who commutes to Manhattan every day, said he might bike to the train.

''Maybe I can lose some of this flab,'' he said with a laugh and grabbed his belly. ''I think they should actually extend the line all the way north to Chatham or even Great Barrington, Mass. People are moving there and coming in to the city every day, so clearly there's a market for it.''

Mr. Silvera, who moved north from New York City four years ago, said the change in locale had been well worth the logistical hassles.

''It's a quality-of-life issue,'' he said. ''There's an inconvenience in travel, but there's a mental recoupment living in a quieter area.''

Commuters who willingly ride for hours to get into the city have become such a regular part of business that Metro-North has a shuttle bus running back and forth between Dover Plains (a two-hour ride from Manhattan) and Great Barrington.

A few days before its new train station was to open, all was quiet in the tiny Hamlet of Wassaic, best known as the birthplace and former home of Borden Condensed Milk. The biggest action in town these days is a weekly livestock auction. Hand-lettered signs advertising ''Piglets for Sale,'' hang outside some homes, and many driveways hold vintage cars in various states of repair. The station, with 250 parking spaces right off the Route 22 thoroughfare, is clean and quaint, with a pitched green roof and tasteful-looking brickwork. The platform stands between two towering mountains, which are often draped with mist in the early morning.

To many residents, even more important than an easier commute is the possibility that trains running from the opposite direction will provide a boost to tourism.

''We've focused on the reverse commute,'' said Kathleen Schibanoff, executive director of the Harlem Valley Partnership, an economic development and regional planning group. ''The trains, we hope, will bring people from the city to this area to recreate, enjoy the biking, the restaurants, the wineries.''

No one expects an immediate boom in business or wildly escalating real estate values, she said, but as suburbia creeps ever northward the effects of the railroad are undeniable.

''We've always viewed the train as our connection to the metropolitan area,'' she said. ''I feel like it keeps us connected to life and activity, so we're not just forgotten out here.''

Photos: Commuters at the Dover Plains Station, last stop on the Harlem Line, left. The Wassaic train station platform, right off the Route 22 thoroughfare. Metro-North has seen a sharp rise in patronage in the last 15 years, most of it from riders at far-north stations. (Photographs by Don Heiny for The New York Times)